VA Form 21P-601 is the application a survivor uses to collect benefits the VA owed a veteran or other beneficiary who died before receiving payment. You must file it within one year of the beneficiary’s date of death, and you send it — with a death certificate and documentation of any last-illness or burial expenses you paid — to the VA Claims Intake Center by mail, fax, or online upload.
The One-Year Deadline Governs Everything Else
Federal law requires that your application reach the VA within one year of the beneficiary’s death. Miss the window and the money stays with the government, no matter how strong the underlying claim would have been. If your initial submission is incomplete, the VA will write to tell you what’s missing, and you then have one year from that notice to supply it. Fail to respond in time and the claim dies.
The statute also limits what evidence the VA can weigh. Only evidence already in the VA’s possession on or before the date of death counts toward an accrued benefits claim. New medical opinions, buddy statements, or records generated after death cannot be used to strengthen the underlying benefit claim. Service treatment records and VA medical records are the exception, because the VA treats those as constructively in the file even if they had not been physically located there yet.
Who Is Eligible to File
The statute at 38 U.S.C. § 5121 sets a rigid priority order. The VA pays the first eligible person on the list and does not skip a tier:
- The surviving spouse, who receives the full accrued amount.
- If no surviving spouse, the veteran’s children share the payment equally. Eligible children are unmarried children under 18, unmarried children between 18 and 23 enrolled in an approved educational program at the time of death, and unmarried children of any age who became permanently incapable of self-support before turning 18.
- If no spouse or eligible children, dependent parents share the payment equally.
- If none of the above exist, the person who paid the deceased’s last illness or burial expenses is reimbursed, but only up to what that person actually spent, even when the accrued benefit is larger.
If a surviving spouse exists, children receive nothing from the accrued benefit even when they also paid expenses.
Consider Substitution Before You File
If the veteran had a VA claim still pending at the time of death, an eligible survivor can request under 38 U.S.C. § 5121A to be substituted as the claimant and continue that pending claim. The advantage over a standard accrued benefits claim is that the VA can develop new evidence after death for a substituted claim. The same one-year deadline applies. Item 14E on the form asks whether you want to waive substitution; if you are uncertain, a Veterans Service Organization representative can walk you through both paths at no cost before you commit.
Documents to Gather Before You Start
Collect everything before you sit down with the form. A missing document is the most common reason these claims stall.
- A certified copy of the death certificate, unless the beneficiary died in a VA medical facility (the VA already has that record).
- The veteran’s VA file number and Social Security number. Old VA correspondence will show the file number if you don’t have it memorized.
- Letters testamentary or letters of administration, if an executor or administrator has been appointed for the estate. Submit a certified copy bearing the court’s signature and seal.
- For reimbursement claims, every bill and statement of account for the deceased’s last illness and burial, on the creditor’s own letterhead, showing the dates and nature of services, the cost, the name of the deceased, whether the bill has been paid, and who paid it.
Write the veteran’s name and VA file number on every attachment. Loose pages without identifiers can get separated from your file.
How to Fill Out VA Form 21P-601
Download the current form directly from the VA’s forms page so you’re not working from an outdated version. The form has six sections.
Section I: Claimant and Deceased Beneficiary Information
Fields 1 through 5 cover the veteran: full legal name, Social Security number, VA file number, the deceased beneficiary’s name (if different from the veteran, such as a surviving spouse who was receiving benefits), and the date of death. Fields 6 through 12 are about you: name, Social Security number, date of birth, mailing address, phone, email, and your relationship to the deceased beneficiary. Item 12 drives priority, so be precise: surviving spouse, child, parent, or a non-family payer of expenses.
Section II: Surviving Relatives
Item 13 asks you to check every category of surviving relative the deceased had, whether or not those people are filing their own claims. Item 14 requires you to list each surviving relative by name, relationship, date of birth, and mailing address. The VA uses this to check whether someone with higher priority exists. Even if you believe you’re the only eligible claimant, answer honestly; omitting a known relative can derail the claim. Item 14E asks whether you want to waive substitution.
Section III: Debts, Expenses, and Burial Information
This section matters most for reimbursement claimants. Item 15 has columns for each expense: provider or funeral home (15A), type of expense (15B), dollar amount (15C), paid or unpaid status (15D), and who paid it (15E). List every expense on its own line rather than lumping a hospital bill and a funeral cost together. Item 16 asks whether you’ve already been reimbursed for any of the expenses from insurance or another government program. Items 17 and 18 cover other debts the beneficiary left. Item 19 asks whether the estate is going through probate. The VA cross-checks these answers.
Section IV: Waiver of Reimbursement From Unpaid Creditors
For any expense you listed as unpaid, the creditor must sign this section, giving name, address, signature, title, and date. The waiver confirms the creditor agrees the accrued benefit can go to you rather than toward the unpaid bill. Collecting those signatures before you submit avoids a predictable round of correspondence with the VA.
Section V: Signature and Witnesses
Sign and date in Items 23A and 23B. The form provides space for two witnesses to sign with printed names and addresses. Witnesses aren’t always required, but their signatures strengthen the submission.
Section VI: Remarks
Item 26 is for anything unusual that doesn’t fit the earlier fields. If you shared expenses with another family member, if the veteran had multiple pending claims, or if there is context the VA should know, write it here.
Where and How to Submit
Three channels are available:
- By mail to Department of Veterans Affairs, Claims Intake Center, PO Box 4444, Janesville, WI 53547-4444. Use certified mail or a trackable service; with a one-year deadline, you want proof of the mailing date.
- By fax to 844-531-7818 within the United States, or 248-524-4260 from outside the U.S.
- Online through the QuickSubmit tool on AccessVA, which creates a digital record and tends to be acknowledged faster than mail.
What Happens After You File
The Claims Intake Center sends a letter confirming receipt. A claims processor then reviews the veteran’s file, verifies your position in the priority hierarchy, and calculates the accrued amount from benefits that were due but unpaid at death. Processing times vary with the complexity of the veteran’s claims history and the current backlog. Straightforward cases with complete documentation move faster; cases involving pending disability ratings or missing records take longer.
If the VA denies your claim or awards less than you expected, three options are available under the Appeals Modernization Act. A Supplemental Claim (VA Form 20-0995) is for cases where you have new and relevant evidence. A Higher-Level Review (VA Form 20-0996) asks a more senior reviewer to reexamine the record already on file. A Board Appeal sends the case to a Veterans Law Judge at the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, which takes the longest but includes the option of a hearing. For Higher-Level Reviews and Board Appeals, you have one year from the date on the VA’s decision letter to file.
Tax Treatment
VA benefit payments, including accrued benefits paid to survivors, are exempt from federal income tax. Payments made under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs “shall be exempt from taxation” and are also protected from creditors, attachment, and seizure. You do not report accrued benefits as income on your federal return, and the VA does not issue a 1099 for the payment.